 Gallatin County DUI Task Force
Minutes
May 18, 2005
2nd Floor Conference Room, Al Stiff Professional Building
5:30 to 7:10 PM
Members:
Bob Larson, Chairman
Susan Wordal, City Attorney’s Office
Mark Daugherty, Citizen Volunteer
Amos Ridenour, MSU PD
Katie Donath, Citizen Member
Stephen Scott, Citizen Volunteer
Sherrie Murphy, MHP
Alex Fuller, GCSO
Stephen Keim, Bozeman PD
Members Absent:
Price Klass, Youth Member
Excused Absence:
Shanda Smith
Guests:
Tyler Cegler ASMSU
Jessica Kaae ASMSU
Minutes from April 20th motion to approve passed.
Clearing the way for new business:
Board organization/compliance. At the county staff meeting Jenna spoke with Shelly Vance and was told that “probably everybody is telling you to look for a resolution which doesn’t exist.” We need to pin down the year the Task Force was started. Jenna has a call into Al Goke and is still trying to get to Doris Heckerman. Will continue to work with County Attorney’s Office. Apparently this is not the large crisis that it seemed to be a couple months ago, because there is little or no support to resolve the issue from the county, or the state. It’s frustrating because new members cannot be approved until this is resolved.
Elections in June:
Nominations for Chair, Bob Larson; Vice Chair: Amos Ridenour; Secretary, Steve Scott; Treasurer: Katie Donath.
Communications and contact w/ out-of-town agencies: Bob reported on his delivery of Swimming Upstream awards to those not in attendance.
Some agencies feel that there is an inequity in the way funds are distributed between agencies. After listening to concerns, Bob recommended that each agency submit a mini-grant form with their short and long-term needs on one form and then, due to budgeting, smaller items may get funded but not to expect larger itme requests to be funded prior to 10/1/05, with payment possibly not to occur prior to 1/06. They understood the budget process and will submit a request and were advised that they must exhaust all other sources of funding before the Task Force will consider authorization of certain items.
Attendance: after meeting with the agencies, attendance is and will be an issue. Bob presented to each department that Task Force meetings provide an opportunity for important conversations about DUI in Gallatin County and for that to happen, there needs to be participation from all members. From this point forward - Three Forks is hiring 2 new Marshals for a total of four so they will then be able to send a member to meetings. Manhattan has 2 officers and will be hiring 3 more so when that’s completed one can attend. Manhattan offered to host 2 meetings per year at their city hall. Belgrade has one regular attendee and will maintain that. West will try but the drive is a deterrent. MSU has 1 regular attendee, and GCSO has a designated member. Bozeman
PD will be more aggressive to insure attendance. At issue is an equality concern related to voting to approve funds that skews the results of those votes.
GC Task Force annual report format discussed. Jenna passed out a copy of the letter she wrote to the Commission about it that suggests we report every year in August – its up to the Task Force and the commission when the report is due, on a fiscal or annual year basis. Jenna suggested that in August, the report could include all footwork done for the budget process and the approved budget for the next fiscal year. In working on this issue, Jenna learned that there is no set process for determining conviction rate, but it does need to be reported. The # of accidents w/ an alcohol relationship are to be tracked and reported. Jenna has done all the necessary stats except figuring the conviction rate. In calendar year 2004 there were approximately 1078 DUI citations
issued, and of 16 crash fatalities, 5 were alcohol- related. These #s were released to the Chronicle today and also to KTVM because they are doing an alcohol series right now.
Legislative: Jenna passed out an update from Bill Muhs regarding the 2005 Legislature. This will be Bill’s final year.
Impaired Driving Assessment in Helena: MDOT is bringing in folks for a panel of experts to listen to input about existing programs that impact DUI, then having that panel make recommendations in priorities for funding to further impact DUI. Should be interesting. Will be a 5 day meeting. Jenna is going to present on Screenings and Brief Interventions and their possible impact on DUI reduction if utilized in the ER, but will split her billed-time between GRIP; SKSC, and DUI Task Force.
Finances:
Budget: Jenna presented the budget as presented to the County for consideration. There was a new line item for Administrative FIX 2,976.00, which was unanticipated, so there was a budget shift out of contracted services. Our last quarterly check was $13,500.00, so our estimated income appears to be low. Better to be low than high.
Fiscal 2005: The Task Force has $40,000 presently, but payroll and the Intoxilyzer purchase haven’t been deducted. Even with reserving $10,000 reserve, there should be $10-15,000 to spend for the remainder of this fiscal year.
Bob suggested that he visit the departments again and solicit the mini-grants because we need to spend it while we’ve got it and it might not be there if they wait.
Tammy Matthews - Community Involvement (service) Coordinator for ADSGC, Jade Dawson, and Cassie Weightman: presented on their Mini-grant for the Adolescent Resource Center. Tammy handles the community service program for adolescents with MIP, etc. She goes into the community to find programs for the kids to do their community service. Adults supervise the program. They’re trying to find money to keep the program going now that their block grant from the State has run out. (See grant application). There is a $50.00 fee, which covers some salary expenses, van expenses, and insurance and work comp insurance. Their program includes education for MIPs, Juvenile DUIs, etc. Total request is $2,500.
Sherrie Murphy - MHP asking for PBTs. Theirs are “ancient” and need to be upgraded. This would be for all aspects of patrol, not restricted to DUI patrols. They will gratefully accept whatever amount can be given. Sherrie said 1.7 lives are saved when a DUI is taken off the road. The average cost for PBT’s is $300. This is a request from District 7. They anticipate getting 3 new people in the fall. Looking at 5 - 10 units at @ $1500 - $3000.
Cat Cab presented their ridership numbers. They have already exceeded expectations. Their $3000 request for next year has already been included in our 05-06 budget.
Mark moved to fund ADSGC at $2500 and to fund approximately 8 PBTs for MHP ($2400). Susan seconded. The recipients agreed to do press releases about the donations. Unanimous 6 - 0. Sherrie abstained and Steve Keim had to leave early.
Promotional items: Katie’s recommendation was: a ruler which reads: “It’s a thin line that separates you from a drunk driver. Wear your seatbelt.” Jenna will be ordering based on prior authorization.
Mini-grants: Jenna wants to add a piece on the application that requires grantees to do public outreach acknowledging the DUI Task Force as the source of their funding.
To resolve: When we give a large amount to fund a project that will take place over the year, the recipient should give a quarterly report on what’s happened. She raised the question, do we want to divide large amounts in to quarterly payments to protect our investment? Jenna will make the appropriate changes to the grant application materials for the next fiscal year. Also, Jenna wants to designate a meeting for consideration of applications so we have a set time and if they miss the deadline, then they will have to wait for the next deadline. Jenna will have a proposed procedure for the next meeting for implementation in the fall.
Meeting adjourned.
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